Apparatus for the production of chocolate pastes ready for subsequent treatment on roll refiners



Feb. .23, 1954 H K. WIEMER APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CHOCOLATE PASTES READY FOR SUBESQUENT TREATMENT ON ROLL REFINERS Original Filed March '7, 1950 /nve/775/' 4% at): LYW

Patented Feb. 23, 1954 viii?!"ARitilUS i R THE "PRODUGTION OF CHO GOLWEEWHSTES READY FOR SUB- l'S EQUENIIT .LTBEATMENH.= ON S-R'OLL RtEi- FIN-EBB ""iflerma'nii Kiu t' w el e wa liactofigllnglanii asnziginalmpplicatinn March '33, 1950,' Serial' i-No. 31 43,155 -=.-Dividefl=-%and thisialil licationwMai-ch -J13,.1QlsSeria1iNca -2I ;232

*caimsaflmma ucari nisen lan ern S'eptember 21;1-949 ,ii-hlaiim. (CLr99 e236) operation; playswanimportant part. This mixing operation was previously carried "out mainly in plat'ednixers, so-called melangeurs, or in 'troug'h ini'xers. Usually alarge quantity of finely (ground liouid co'coawas -introdi-iced int'ot the mixer and f'thentha sugar, which wasmostly groundtoathe -=form"of icingsugar and the milk powfier were admixed-therewith. A-mixmg operation in such fim'achines :took from v --to 40 i minutes' 'according -".t'o" the content ---and required addition ==much manual work. The mixed chocolate dougl'r thus f-ffdrmed was carried invessels or wagons to -the tg'rinding 'mill; -Asthe-latter operated continuously the hitherto known method ofmixing naturally was replaced by continuously operating mixing device's. I

' iiHoweverithe-attempts'tosolve the problem by fusing conveyor"mixers"arid-*Tnillrmixers ididfnot, Lfoi variousweasons',"produce satisfactorwresults, "and the *"r'esultvwhich had' 'previously obtained with plate mixers were not attained.

The use of icing sugar moreover involved certain disadvantages. With intensive grinding in known high speed mills the flavour of the sugar was adversely affected presumably by the formation of ozone. Moreover the treatment of icing sugar endangered the health of the operators due to the inhaling of the sugar dust. Icing sugar moreover is very difi'icult to weigh automatically so that mechanical feeding of the mixers was almost impossible. For these reasons in certain manufacturing methods the grinding of the sugar before mixing was omitted but this rendered the provision of a set of grinding mills and remixing in melanguers more necessary than usual and consequently this method of operation was used less than it should have been used although it had another important advantage.

As is known both fats and sugar have the property of attracting and binding aromas to themselves. 1n the disintegration of the sugar :2 intimate -=cont'a'c'twith the -cocoa a .vesymxtens-ivemu-tual :enrichment of :the aromawitakes ipla'ceis kno-w'n good kinds "of co'c'oa :in'tjthe form 50f cocoa nibs are mixed :with lsugarvln crystal form while not such good cocoa means ar emixed w-ith sugar-only:Iafter aitreatment and grinding whi'ch improvesthe-aroma. .rltihas been found' in pr aotiee that -i-n =all casessin :order produce a lplastic chocolate :paste nipanticularly n sditablefor supply to .the-chocolate grinding mill -involving care in t-he -mixing,f liquidacocoai should -be employed since ithe-consistency of the zch'cica- 4 late-plays :a large part in thel-attainmentmf goold results -thegrinding operation.

The consistency:mayPbeSaEeotediby-ithe @cocoa "butterw cont'ent and also byithe: size o .lthedsugar -particles. While :the eperoentagex: content of -:the difierent chocolate constituents is lxietermi-ned by the recipe selected and the cocoa: buttencontent is-thus limitedandlaffordseno epossibility of sugar particles has a lar'gerisuperncialtarea than .the-*-same quantity 0f sugar infitheifornnof ifewer nd larger:-sugar: particles. 1

. Wilith .thexknowledge 'thatfitis ibetter invmaleing chocolate to grind the chocolate with thez minig mum quantity of butter since in thiseways-imfprovement imth'eiaroma is obtainedsandithat .the size of: itheisugar particles oil-delivery iofsthe chocolatepaste to.thezgrinding-milleneed 'onlyezbelabout 1100: micronsxit will be appreciatedthatsa method of mixing and a continually operating apparatus therefor which takes into account the abovementioned conditions offers an essential advantage especially where it is possible to make use of all the steps to provide for good aroma develop- 40 ment.

In this invention the finely ground cocoa and cocoa butter on the one hand and sugar in crystal form and the milk powder on the other are automatically weighed and pre-mixed and then the mixing is completed in a high speed hammer mill, which at the same time disintegrates the sugar to the particular size corresponding to the paste consistency desired. Preferably the automatic weighing is carried out continuously. The hammer mill is fed by means of a conveyor regulatable in speed while to ensure intensive mixing the rotating, mixing and grinding members of the hammer mill are in the form of blades in alternate right and left hand spirals.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically Referring to the drawing, l and 2 indicate the,

weighing devices for the dry pulverulent substances such as sugar in crystal form and milk powder, 3, 4 and 5 indicate weighing devices or metering pumps for liquid or semi-liquid material such as cocoa liquor, cocoa butter; lecithin: and crushed or ground nut materials. These weighing devices are suitably arranged for continuous, weighing of very small quantities or for weighing j in a continuous fiow. 6 indicates a suitable mixer of known type with a vertical mixing shaft in which the materials are pre-mixed to form a fluid mixture. 1 indicates a conveyor worm which can be driven at different speeds. At high speeds due to the greater throughput to the mill the sugar is not so finely ground as it is when the speed is lower.

8 indicates a hammerlmill the casing of which is provided on its upper inner side with serrations or teeth 9 and is provided on its lower side with holes l8 providing a form of sieve through which the material is discharged. Iii-i7 indicate the blade like hammers which rotate at a more or less high speed. The blade-like hammers are carried by a rotor mounted on a shaft extending axially through the casing, the shaft being driven by variable speed pulley, as shown.

The mass fed by the conveyor worm '1 into hammer miil casing passes between these hammers and due to the disposition of the hammers in right and left hand spirals indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, is subjected to an intensive mixing operation. Under the action of centrifugal force the mixed chocolate mass passes between the tips of the blades Hl-Il and the serrations or teeth 9 where the sugar in crystal form is reduced to the desired degree of fineness.

The ground and mixed mass passes through the sieve holes [8 and falls on the conveyor band I9 on which it is transported direct to a chocolate refiner.

I claim:

An apparatus for the continuous production of chocolate pastes having the desired degree of fineness for subsequent treatment on roll refiners, comprising a premixing device of small 4, dimensions, means for automatically separately and continuously weighing and supplying to said premixing device in small quantities predeter- 'mined relative proportions of ground cocoanut, cocoanut butter, sugar in crystal form and milk powder, a hammer mill including a cylindrical. casing, a rotor in said casing mounted on a shaft extending axially in the casing, a circular series of peripherally spaced blade-like hammers carried by the rotor each extending radially in the casing to a point adjacent the inner periphery thereof, each successive blade-like hammer of one portion of the series being ofiset axially in one 1 direction with respect to the next preceding peripherally spaced hammer of said portion of the series of hammers, each succeeding hammer of the remaining portion of the hammers of the series being offset axially in the opposite direction with respect to the next preceding peripherallyspaced hammer of said remaining portion of the series of hammers whereby the series of peripherally-spaced hammers are arranged in spiral segments with opposite slopes, means in the upper part of the casing including serrations cooperating with the hammers in the grinding of the chocolate paste, the lower portion of the casing being provided with holes for the discharge .of chocolate paste from the casing, means for continuously feeding premixed chocolate paste from said premixing device into the hammer mill, and means for varying the speed of the feeding means.

HERMANN KURT WIEMER. a

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 589,236 Williams Aug. 31, 1897 680,889 Schutz Aug. 20, 1901 40 1,591,979 Iii July 13, 1926 1,759,448 Frickey May 20, 1930 1,930,623 Peterson Oct. 17, .1933 1,973,074 Howes Sept. 11, 1934 2,348,916 Magnus May 16, 1944 3;, 2,417,184 Wagner Mar. 11, 1947 2,515,150 Aasted July 11, 1950 2,587,372 Oliver Feb. 26, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 139,682 Austria Dec. 10,1934 259,673 Germany May 10, 1913 261,554 Italy Dec. 1, 1928 634,856

Germany Sept. 4, 1936 

